1. Technical Field
This invention relates to a method of automatically restarting operation of an icemaker after a fault has been detected, and if proper operation cannot be resumed within a predetermined number of restart tries, using the controller to generate a fault signal to an operator.
2. Discussion
Icemakers are used in a wide variety of commercial and residential applications. In commercial applications, icemakers are often used to produce large quantities of ice on a daily basis. In most instances, such icemakers operate continuously (i.e., 24 hours per day) such as in restaurants, hotels and in convenience stores.
On occasion, fault conditions may develop with commercial icemakers which necessitate resetting or restarting the icemaker. These fault conditions are often not serious fault conditions which necessitate the attendance of a qualified service person to restart the icemaker. Often, these fault conditions are relatively minor and may be due to such factors as electrical surge or brown-out conditions which could temporarily stress various operating components of the icemaker. Such conditions can also disrupt operation of the icemaker resulting in temporarily insufficient or excessive water levels in the water sump, temporarily excessively high or low temperatures of the gaseous refrigerant discharged from the compressor, etc.
If any one of the above-mentioned or other like faults occur, heretofore developed icemakers often generate a fault signal which indicates to the owner, attendant or other person of a business establishment where the icemaker is located that qualified service personnel is needed to correct the problem. Other icemakers, upon detecting one or more of the above-mentioned fault conditions, require the operator to manually initiate some form of a restart operation or sequence which allows the icemaker to attempt to continue operation. In either instance, often the fault condition will abate within 15-60 minutes following its initial occurrence. If a service person has been summoned to the business establishment where the icemaker is located, and the fault condition has abated, this represents a cost to the establishment owner that is not needed. If the employee or attendant of the business establishment is required to initiate a manual reset operation, this results in added inconvenience to the employee or attendant and the need to pay relatively close attention to the icemaker in the event a fault condition develops so that a quick attempt can be made at restarting the icemaker. Obviously, if the employee or attendant is not paying close attention to the operation of the icemaker, a fault condition could develop which interrupts operation of the icemaker for an undesirably long period of time. Especially in summer months, such an occurrence can be particularly troubling where very large quantities of ice are needed on a daily basis.
It would therefore be very highly desirable to provide an icemaker having the capability of waiting for a predetermined time period before automatically attempting to restart operation after a fault condition has occurred. This would provide time for the operating anomaly (e.g., power surge or brown-out condition) to abate and alleviate the need for an employee or other attendant to manually reset the icemaker or to periodically check on the operation of the icemaker in the event the icemaker has experienced a fault condition that requires a reset or restart command for continued operation.
It would also be highly desirable to provide the capability to automatically attempt a restart operation a predetermined number of times after the icemaker has shut down because of a detected fault condition, before determining that a detected fault condition is one that requires the attention of qualified service personnel, rather than being due to a temporary fault condition. An icemaker which automatically attempts to restart, at least a limited number of times, before signalling a fault condition to an operator or attendant, would insure that service personnel are not summoned when only a temporary fault condition existed which does not require the attention of qualified service personnel, but which could be removed by simply performing one, two or more restarts of the icemaker over a time period sufficient to allow the temporary fault condition to abate.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a method for restarting operation of an icemaker after a fault condition has occurred causing the icemaker to shut down, which does not add appreciably to the overall cost of the icemaker, to its overall size, and which does not require any input from an operator or attendant before attempting to perform an automatic restart of the icemaker for a predetermined, limited number of times.